Keller library to host concert, story walk, golf tournament

Helen Keller Public Library in Tuscumbia has a number of events coming up soon.

Between a musical performance, story walk and benefit golf tournament, there will be something interesting for the whole family.

On Sunday, April 27, the United States Air Force Band of the West Ensemble will be performing in the library’s main meeting room at 2 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public.

“This is the first time they are playing in this area,” said Keller Library Director Elisabeth Gullett. “They were in Birmingham, and we connected. We are super excited about this. It will be a cool thing.”

Gullett said the band features reed instruments and will play a mix of “(George) Gershwin, jazz and chamber music.”

“When they do performances, they interact with the audience,” she said. “They are excited about getting into this area, and we are really proud of this.”

On Saturday, May 3, the library will host a ribbon cutting event at 10 a.m. for a new story walk to be unveiled in Spring Park.

The free event will feature some activities for children, prizes and the story walk itself.

“We have these big signs like you might see at a historical site with information on them,” Gullett said. “They put them up about a month ago. Some people mistook them for solar panels.

“You start by the playground and go around the park toward the stage. It’s a story book. Each sign is a new page of the story. You read a sign then walk to the next one. We thought it would be a good addition to Spring Park as (the city) tries to rejuvenate it.”

Gullett said the idea of a story walk began in Vermont in an effort to get people outside and reading and has since spread. She said the first story of the walk in Spring Park will be about a duck.

The story walk was fully funded by a grant from The Daniel Foundation.

“They are a great nonprofit that funds a lot of community events,” Gullett said. “We got the grant last year, but it took some time before we could put the signs up.”

She said the first story will be up until the beginning of fall. The signs will remain in the park, and the stories will be changed quarterly, giving visitors plenty of time to catch each one.

“We will tell people when we get a new story posted,” Gullett said.

Last year, the Helen Keller Library Foundation was created to help raise funds for the library.

“Just in time, since we are being cut federal and state funding right and left,” Gullett said. “The city supports us loyally when we ask, and the county gives money to all the libraries in Colbert.

“We were supposed to get a $20,000 federal grant this year, but it got delayed then stopped. I usually get one a year, and that’s how we do extra stuff outside of our basics. So, the foundation is really important.”

The foundation will be hosting a “Fore the Library” golf tournament as its first fundraiser on May 12 beginning at 8:30 a.m. at Cypress Lakes Country Club in Muscle Shoals.

The cost is $500 per four-person team, $250 for a hole sponsor and $650 for a team and hole sponsor combination.

Players can buy a mulligan for $10 and a throw for $20. Space is limited to 18 teams, and interested parties can call 256-383-7065 or email [email protected].

“We didn’t want to go crazy huge big for our first fundraiser so we could learn and grow,” Gullett said. “We hope to make it an annual event. The more money we can raise and hold in the foundation, that can help us offset the loss of state and federal money.”